One of the challenging aspects of moving is what to do with all of the “junk” that you own. This isn’t trash, per se, but the stuff that you find strewn throughout your house once everything else is packed. These items are things that would look at home in a junk drawer, things you’ve been holding onto that never found a proper home, and things that defy easy categorization. The following are just a few ideas on how to handle the moving detritus.

What to do with your drawer junk when moving

The first thing you should do when you empty out your drawers is to sort through everything and toss what you don’t need. Once you’ve sorted out the actual trash, you’re probably going to be left with small items that could have some use at some point in the future, like rubber bands, loose batteries and more. Take these items and sort them in small Ziploc bags to keep them together during the move.

Once you start unpacking, you’ll want to organize items so that you don’t end up having random clutter again. Pick up some drawer dividers that allow you to separate small items. This way, you can have a section for receipts, coupons and notes, a section for loose batteries, rubber bands and paper clips and a section for pens, pencils and markers.

Make sure that the dividers are shallow so that they don’t end up overflowing with these items. Also, don’t get lazy. If items have a proper place in your household that isn’t the junk drawer, put them away in their right place. The more organized it remains, the more likely you are to find the items you need and to use them regularly so that it’s no longer a “junk” drawer.

On a larger scale, junk drawers teach us how to purge what we don’t need, organize what we have, and identify our lazy habits. Most homes don’t look like magazine covers, because people actually live in them. Clutter, unwanted items, and items without a home are bound to build up, but you can come up with a system to keep everything orderly.